When Do We Think?
First of all, I want you to know that this photo is not of my office. I’m not going to tell you whose it is, but when I saw it, I had a good laugh, and then I realized that many of us have offices that look like this — and if we don’t, we’re just hiding the stacks of unread papers, magazines, and reports that we just don’t have time to get to.
How did this happen? Well, I’m sure it’s because of all the new information sources that have cropped up in the last decade. Who can keep up with it all? Not only can we subscribe to print magazines and journals, but now we can subscribe to weekly and daily e-newsletters, sign up for RSS feeds to tap into our favorite blogs, watch videos on YouTube, not to mention the hundreds of e-mails we all receive daily from our colleagues, companies/organizations we do business with, spammers, etc.
Last week, the Wall St. Journal reported (”Email’s Friendly Fire,” 11.27.07) that the amount of time people spend answering e-mails at work is expected to grow to 41% by 2009. Almost everyone I know struggles with this; and although e-mail is an effective communication tool, it has become a burden for many.
What did we do with all that time before e-mail? Did we talk to people on the phone? Did we read more? Did we have more face-to-face meetings or conversations? Did we have more time to think? Or, maybe we had more “down” time to free our minds to think.
It’s a delicate balance we’re all trying to juggle. I would write more, but I have to go answer my e-mails…